Lacing as Stitching

[SunLynx]

So I needed to pull a pouch out of thin air this past weekend - for reasons.  Limited time, materials, tools and I still somehow managed to pull it off.  The product is actually really unfinished but it did the job I needed it to do for the weekend.  Now that the dust has settled I don't see any reason not to fine tune the design and remake it.  The only thing that has me stumped is the lacing.  I've never done a lace stitched pouch before, especially with veg tan.  Which means I have no idea if the edges are supposed to be sticking up like that, and especially showing such bad stitching technique.  (It may be my pattern, and I may be allowed to set the rules for it, but people come to expect certain things in a style, and I don't know if this look is part of it or not.)

So my question is two-fold:

1. Is lace stitching supposed to look like a 3 year old's regular stitching on this kind of bag
2. If it is not supposed to look like this is there something I am supposed to be doing to the leather - such as wet moulding, scoring or gouging the inside for folding, softening the leather at the bend...

As always, everyone's thoughts and opinions - even just dropping by and agreeing with me that this stitching is hideous - is appreciated.

- SunLynx

[Tugadude]

O.K., you asked for it.  That is the first leather taco I've ever seen!   Hopefully someone will say something constructive!

[Rockoboy]

With absolutely no experience at doing what you are trying to achieve, I would think the lacing would look and function better if you used a saddle stitch lacing rather than a simple up 'n down lacing as you have done.

Depending on how that worked or didn't work, maybe wet forming either sides of the 'taco' might help the lace to sit better and hold it together.

[fredk]

5 hours ago, SunLynx said:

So my question is two-fold:

1. Is lace stitching supposed to look like a 3 year old's regular stitching on this kind of bag
2. If it is not supposed to look like this is there something I am supposed to be doing to the leather - such as wet moulding, scoring or gouging the inside for folding, softening the leather at the bend...

1. Smoother lacing; pull the lace thru a cloth with very soft beeswax/neetsfoot oil on it. That will slick the lace. Not only improves the look, it makes it easier to pull thru the holes

2. Smaller lacing holes; match lacing to hole - round lace thru a round hole, flat lacing thru a slit hole. For a slit hole consider using an oval hole punch,  they can be bought a : cheaply,   b :  in sizes to match flat lacing, eg 3mm x 2 mm  A small selection of these covers most usual lace sizes

3. A wider gusset with the edges beveled and folded to meet the sides; either an outwards fold so there is a ridge line, or inwards bringing the gusset flush to the sides on the out side - a bit more fiddly to lace together tho

4. Smooth all cut edges of leather which is over 0.8 mm thick - that is, all cut edges. Even just a rub over with beeswax and burnished using a piece of denim or linen type cloth can make a real difference.

5. Try to cut lines in one cut; less likely to get stop-offs as can be seen top centre, forward. If you do get these a few swipes with  'sand' paper to take out the change in the cut-line, then slick.

hth

Edited May 25, 2018 by fredk

[SunLynx]

5 hours ago, Tugadude said:

O.K., you asked for it.  That is the first leather taco I've ever seen!   Hopefully someone will say something constructive!

 Best laugh I've had all week.  I assure you it's not really a taco, but even after sending my pic through a file compressor I could still only fit one, so the important one stayed.

 

4 hours ago, Rockoboy said:

With absolutely no experience at doing what you are trying to achieve, I would think the lacing would look and function better if you used a saddle stitch lacing rather than a simple up 'n down lacing as you have done.

Depending on how that worked or didn't work, maybe wet forming either sides of the 'taco' might help the lace to sit better and hold it together.

I'm not sure if I could do a saddle stitch with veg tan lace, especially not without getting that funny angled look I dislike.  (When I use thread I have a minor angle that quickly disappears with use.)

I know I mentioned wet moulding in my parent post but if I wet moulded I'd have to free form it as I lack the tools to make a form for it.  It can be done, I just think there would be no consistency in shape, which is unlikely to be pretty in my case.  (No one ever told me that as a leatherworker I would also need to be a woodworker and a CAD artist )

40 minutes ago, fredk said:

1. Smoother lacing; pull the lace thru a cloth with very soft beeswax/neetsfoot oil on it. That will slick the lace. Not only improves the look, it makes it easier to pull thru the holes

2. Smaller lacing holes; match lacing to hole - round lace thru a round hole, flat lacing thru a slit hole. For a slit hole consider using an oval hole punch,  they can be bought a : cheaply,   b :  in sizes to match flat lacing, eg 3mm x 2 mm  A small selection of these covers most usual lace sizes

3. A wider gusset with the edges beveled and folded to meet the sides; either an outwards fold so there is a ridge line, or inwards bringing the gusset flush to the sides on the out side - a bit more fiddly to lace together tho

4. Smooth all cut edges of leather which is over 0.8 mm thick - that is, all cut edges. Even just a rub over with beeswax and burnished using a piece of denim or linen type cloth can make a real difference.

5. Try to cut lines in one cut; less likely to get stop-offs as can be seen top centre, forward. If you do get these a few swipes with  'sand' paper to take out the change in the cut-line, then slick.

hth

1. It would have been nice to not fight the lacing so much.  Some of that was fear that it would snap though, and I was already on site with no way to make more.  Wouldn't the oil or beeswax change the colour of the lace respective of the other leather though?

2. This makes plenty of sense, so I'm going to have to figure out some way to round my laces as I have had literally zero luck getting an oval/slot punch to cut in the orientation I placed it on the leather.

3. I'm having a hard time visualizing your recommendation here.  Do you mean to recommend folding the edges of the strip (gusset) that marries the two pieces so that it is doing the work of meeting the front and back pieces of leather?

4. and 5.  I thank you kindly for this advice, but I did not do finish work on this piece not because I didn't know any better but because I had some pretty extreme time limitations.  Had I chosen to do the finish work I would have basically given up on sleep altogether after working a 10 hour day and before working a 13 hour day.  I had to literally magic this pattern and pouch out of nowhere at 1AM to use the following morning, and I had to perform assembly on site.  I can assure you that my edges haven't looked like this on a finished piece in years, and given that my hand-eye coordination requires the stop-start method I do employ the sanding trick, which I find to be very useful.  Thank you again for the advice though.  I would hate for someone to see this post and think those edges are acceptable.

[fredk]

1. yes, it will darken it

2. Drill a hole in a bit of metal eg steel plate, counter sink if you can. Lace larger than hole. Wet leather and pull thru hole.  Lace gets rounded

3. like this; IUI or InI, where the top of these is the outside

4. okee-doakly